Ram Dass - Fierce Grace - DVD

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Product Code:
DVD074

Price:
GBP£20.42

RAM DASS FIERCE GRACE has been crafted in a very personal style interweaving current conversations and scenes with Ram Dass, interviews with key people in his story, and remarkable archival stills and film footage. The film begins in the present, as Ram Dass deals with the effects of a massive stroke he suffered in February 1997.

He demonstrates such grace and equipoise that the movie rhetorically asks the question: "How do you get to be like this?" The film then traces Ram Dass's story, from his childhood, through his years as a professor of psychology at Harvard University, his experiments there with Timothy Leary, his expulsion from the University, his pilgrimage to India, his exploration of Hinduism, Buddhism and devotional yoga, his work in the realm of service and social action, and his far reaching impact as an author and spiritual teacher.

Ram Dass's personal story is a window onto the larger cultural themes of our time. As the film is set in the context of his life today, at 70, it is also the story of a courageous explorer of consciousness dealing with the reality of aging and trauma. He continues to offer wisdom to a generation who thought they would remain forever young.

By example, Ram Dass demonstrates that physical adversity and emotional suffering can provide a profound opportunity for spiritual growth. Instead of bemoaning his stroke and its after effects, the film reveals how he has come to accept them as "fierce grace." With humility, determination, dignity, and humor, he manages to thrive in the midst of his current predicament.

As we watch him laugh with his therapists while re-learning to walk in physical therapy or see him quietly offer guidance to a young woman who's boyfriend has just been murdered, we come to understand that it is possible to find a place of equanimity within any storm.

At this time, the film could not be more relevant. After the events of September 11th Ram Dass said:

"This stroke was a great trauma for me personally. It was unexpected, uninvited, and it changed every aspect of my life. For the past few years, I have tried to use the stroke as a way to get closer to God. It has been Fierce Grace! The culture has recently had a trauma.

Perhaps, we can collectively use it to get closer to God...Just look at the number of hearts that have opened since September 11th."

Running Time: 93 Minutes

Please Note: This DVD is Region 1 NTSC and may not play on all European systems

This documentary feature film is a portrait of Ram Dass, the highly influential author of Seventies classic, Be Here Now - a book that changed the lives of millions and set a whole generation on a quest for expanded consciousness and meaningful spirituality.

By tracing the life journey of this extraordinary and controversial author and teacher, the film also explores the evolution of the movement Ram Dass helped create - from the counter-culture's experimentation with psychedelic drugs to the evolving and now widespread embrace of Eastern religion, meditation, yoga, environmental awareness, social activism, and alternative healing.